Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Paper Mario: Sticker Star, a.k.a. the game that killed the Paper Mario series (despite only a vocal minority hating it to the point they think it's legitimately an unplayable abomination, moderately favorable reviews, Super Paper Mario departing from the formula first, being the second highest-selling game of the series, and even getting a sequel). Story The game has almost zero story, which is a legitimate gripe about it (but that list goes to the bottom). The little story it does have is done in periodic blurbs of exposition, but that's still not the best. Bowser kidnaps Peach again. That's about it. , has its plot directly ripped of from Final Fantasy 6.]] Gameplay The game completely shakes up the RPG format by removing levelling... But we're starting to get into legitimate gripes again. It's basically an RPG with all of the RPG elements removed. Battles are different (to the point where it would probably fit more as a turn-based strategy), bosses are different, and the overworld is... kinda the same, actually. Speaking of the overworld, it's just generic worlds with nothing to make them unique. Ooh, grland! Ooh, desert! Ooh, spooky forest with poison river! Like we haven't seen that in a Mario game before (pretending like the first three games had super unique and original locales). Characters Somehow, Intelligent Systems screwed up one of the few parts they could've done right. They were only allowed to use pre-existing Mario characters (minus Kersti), so this seemed like the perfect opportunity for smaller, side characters like Daisy and Waluigi to shine, right? Wrong! The game's filled with a bunch of generic Toads, Luigi has a few non-speaking cameos, Bowser doesn't get a single word in (this being the character who delivered the line, "IT'S HAG VS. HAG! AWESOME!" Or something to that effect), and Birdo is the only under-utilized Mario character to appear, and even then it's only for a few seconds in a scene that makes no sense. We mean, Bowser Jr. and Kamek get some screen time, which is nice, but it's still ridiculous. Where are Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, Daisy, Toadsworth, the Koopalings, Captain Toad, and more? Legitimate Gripes List your legitimate gripes here. *Almost zero story in a series where the first game was called Mario Story in Japan. In the other Paper Marios, each chapter had its own thing going on, creating up to eight different sub-plots that all came together in the end. Here? That only happens in one chapter, and it's delivered over an exposition blurb after you defeat the boss. That's it. *Everything listed in the characters section. *At best, it's a good game and a bad Paper Mario game. Why couldn't it have been either a new IP or a different Mario spin-off? * Every single move in the game is one use, including the super attacks/Things, and there's no secondary meter to keep them in. And the method to counter this is archaic in design. Despite this game being made in the 2010s. Just...what is the point, even? * The game keeps players in the dark about certain details, like boss weaknesses, and does a terrible job giving hints or demonstrating basic gameplay mechanics. There's a difference between giving a player challenge and wasting their time for no real reason. This is the latter. * The game is horrible at giving rewards, and there is never a carrot for fulfilling sidequests- in fact, the game has an aversion to rewarding the player in a beneficial way. It's either worth less than the effort of fulfilling a task or even a stick, as the barely functioning Sticker Museum rewards show. * The only new character, Kersti, rarely gives advice pertaining to the current problem, choosing to talk about how paper fares in jungles instead of, you know,' actually helping'. To make it worse, if you beat a major boss without using their weakness, instead of being rewarded handsomely...Kersti es at you for not using the weakness the game never gave any hints towards. What a reward, huh, blaming the player for the game's own faults? And as a final middle finger, despite not changing her obnoxious, bossy, y, tsundere, arrogant personality at all or undergoing a character arc the entire game, the game has the gall to attempt a failed player punch in a pathetic attempt to make the player care about Kersti...yet she ends up being saved. There is something wrong when the player actually wants a character to stay dead. The death of World 4's boss had more of an impact, and the entire thing was shoehorned into about 6 lines of dialogue with absolutely no build-up. Mario should've resurrected him if anyone. * You will need random Thing Stickers at random times, so if you don't have enough coins to rebuy them or missed them the first time, prepare to do a lot of backtracking at the most inopportune of times. Oh, but it gets worse! See, this happens a lot, even when you were supposed to use said Thing Sticker on another boss or enemy, so you can't even use them properly, and they just end up taking up valuable inventory space. Is there a silver lining? Yes, there is. The next Paper Mario game (sorta) is a crossover with Mario & Luigi, called Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. Paper Bowser talks again, and from the looks of things, it'll be much more quirky, amusing and unique than this piece of crap. And then the true next entry in the Paper Mario franchise blocked it out. List of people who hate Paper Mario: Sticker Star A game that's so hated, it needs its' own list of people who hate it. * AuraWielder * leetic * DMZapp User Reviews Vent about how much trash is in this piece of trash *kidmf935 - Wow, this game is something. On one hand, you have some really charming humor and visuals and the best level design in the series. On the other, you have a broken battle system, a complete lack of story and memorable characters (for the most part), and the knowledge that this game was once another TTYD. If you don't look for things to complain about and just play a game to have fun (unlike the majority of GameFAQs), you'll enjoy this game (even more so on subsequent playthroughs). If not, the first two games are still there for you. Category:Terminology Category:Games Category:Abominations Category:Games nobody asked for